What Is to Come
by Higuchimon
Summary: Once Titan joins the Seven Stars, Kagemaru knows the time he's longed for is closer than ever.


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
><strong>Title:<strong> What Is To Come  
><strong>Character:<strong> Kagemaru  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 621||**Status:** One-shot  
><strong>Genre:<strong> General||**Rated:** G  
><strong>Challenge:<strong> Written for the Yu-Gi-Oh GX Non-Flash Bingo, prompt 'future'; Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section B, #44, write a fic that is K rated.  
><strong>Summary:<strong> [one-shot, Kagemaru; GX Non-Flash Bingo & Diversity Writing Challenge] Once Titan joins the Seven Stars, Kagemaru knows the time he's longed for is closer than ever.

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><p>Kagemaru wondered what method he should use to thank Yuuki Juudai for the kindness of his gift. The boy had no idea of what he'd given him, and Kagemaru really didn't want to tell him. In his many decades of life, he'd learned that there were moments when the best reward would be to simply let the gift-giver live on in ignorance.<p>

But a gift had been given, embodied in the person of the so-called dark duelist Titan. Kagemaru watched where the burly man slept, exhausted from the nearness of his brush with death, the last of the Shadow Items clutched in his hand much as a child might clutch a stuffed animal to keep away the darkness.

The last of the Seven Stars, stolen from the very edge of death, closer than any of them save perhaps Abidos. That nearness would keep Titan tame, the awareness of how easily Kagemaru could push him over the edge and this time not allow him to return.

Kagemaru enjoyed having that kind of hold over the group he'd formed. They all needed some sort of leash on them, some more than others. He looked forward to the moment when their plans could begin to come to fruition and he could let each of them go, ever so cautiously.

Two events remained before that could happen. The grand conjunction of the stars that would allow the power of the Sangenma to be tapped needed to occur, which would not happen for some months yet. Soon, though. Much nearer than it had been when he'd first learned of the power that they held and the gains he could achieve from them. He'd waited so long, picking and choosing from the ruthless duelists of many worlds to find his chosen.

His newest duelist needed training as well, and that was the second event. Titan was a very good duelist, but he needed to be better, and he needed a _much_ better deck than what he had. Kagemaru had ideas for that. There were plenty of students still in the pens, kept to see if any of them could become as powerful and strong as he needed them to be. None of them really had what it took, a disappointment in and of itself. But now the could at least be useful.

If only he'd been able to capture Marufuji Ryou. Having the Kaiser, the pinnacle of the school's elite, on his side would've made everything _so_ much easier. When someone that perfect, that flawless, shattered, then they became something far worse than even those who entered the shadows by their own choice. He would've liked to have seen what that boy would've become.

No matter now, however. He had his seven and they would create the energy that he needed to tame the Sangenma and regain the youth he'd lost so long ago. After that, once more the world would remain open to him! He'd traveled for years the first time, and he so anticipated doing that once again. He had not yet visited everyplace that he wanted to, nor accomplished a quarter of what he wished. The origin of the Shadow Items remained a mystery, even to him, and from speaking with Taniya and the Black Scorpions he knew of entire other worlds that he'd not yet set proper foot on.

But he would do it. He would never age again once the Phantom Demons lay in his grip. If it cost the lives of every spirit on the planet, then so be it. He was worth far more than they were in the end. They were only _spirits_.

The future lay open to him. And he would seize it with all of his strength.

**The End**


End file.
